Category Archives: Meditation & Health

Originally posted as “How to Meditate when you’re anxious” at Mindful.org by Steve Hickman When you’re feeling anxious and jittery, try an alternative to seated meditation. Q: When I’m freaking out about something, I find it impossible to meditate. I do have a history of panic attacks. Any suggestions? We’re often susceptible to inadvertently engaging […]

Many beginner meditators, myself included, start out with a mindful breathing meditation: one breath in, one breath out, the mind wanders, you bring it back.

Armed with an app guiding me through this meditation, I practiced dutifully for several months—but eventually I fell off the wagon. It just stopped feeling right for me.

I didn’t know there were other types of meditation to try. That’s why a new study published in the journal Mindfulness is so encouraging: It compares four different types of meditation, and finds that they each have their own unique benefits. Mindful breathing isn’t the only place to start—and it’s not the end of meditation, either.

One thing I tell my students when they begin a meditation practice is to let go of trying to do it perfectly. There is no perfect. You can’t mess it up. Just begin. And you’ll see how meditation benefits your mind and body.

An eight week study conducted by Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) determined that meditation literally rebuilds the brains grey matter in just eight weeks. It’s the very first study to document that meditation produces changes over time in the brain’s grey matter.

If you have been struggling to lose weight, it might be in your mind as much as it is in your waistline. According to meditation coach Lynne Goldberg, excessive eating often has nothing to do with hunger — it’s entirely mental.